Oyo Assembly suspends 13 council chairmen over report

• State plans to re-award abandoned 7.2km Idi Ape-Basorun-Akobo road
• Approves six months maternity leave for pregnant, nursing mothers

Oyo State House of Assembly has suspended indefinitely five Local council caretaker chairmen and eight local council development areas (LCDAs) chairmen in the state with immediate effect.

The House, therefore, directed the affected caretaker chairmen to hand over to their secretaries forthwith not to create any vacuum.

During its plenary, yesterday, the House hinged the suspension on their failure to submit the report of the state of earth-moving equipment in their respective councils to the House as requested and directed.

The Speaker, Adebo Ogundoyin, said the affected caretaker chairmen demonstrated their gross incompetence over their failure to bring a simple report on the state of earth-moving equipment in their different domains.

He said that the Assembly was really disappointed in their action and that the House and the people had lost faith in their ability and competence.

“It is not a witch-hunt of any chairman. The caretaker chairmen failed to honour and respect the directive of the House,” he said.

While presenting the report of the Committee on Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Segun Ademola, representing Ibadan South East II, said that despite the grace of another two weeks given by the House to the councils to submit their reports, the chairmen still failed to oblige as directed.

The Deputy Speaker, Muhammad Fadeyi, commended the committee for doing a good job and described the action of the suspended caretaker chairmen as an affront and an insult to the Ninth Assembly.

In another development, the state government has planned to re-award the contract for the completion of the 7.2 kilometres Idi Ape-Basorun-Akobo-Odogbo Barracks Road.

The state’s Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Dr. Wasiu Olatubosun, said that the road project would be completed through the Alternative Project Funding Approach (APFA).

Also, the state government has reviewed maternity leave period for pregnant and nursing mothers in the employment of the state from four to six months, weekends inclusive, with full payment of salaries and other benefits.

It said that the period of closing at 2:00 p.m. for six months upon resumption had been cancelled.